This invention relates to apparatus in a textile mill for treating fibrous material, prior to handling by mill equipment preparatory to and in connection with the converting of fibers to yarn or thread.
In the processing of fibrous material, such as cotton fibers, from the point of entry into a mill to the formation of a yarn or thread suitable for weaving, the fibers pass through a sequence of equipment performing the functions of opening up of the fibers from the compressed state in the incoming bales, separating dirt and other foreign matter from the fibers, parallelizing and drawing out the fibers to convert the individual fibers from a tangled mass into generally parallel alignment suitable for the formation of continuous slivers, and further drawing out of the slivers, and twisting and spinning the slivers, to ultimately produce the yarn or thread suitable for the subsequent weaving processes. During these several processes, the fibers are subjected to much mechanical handling by the components of the equipment which inherently produce much friction between the machine parts and the fiber material. Conditions of high friction and sticking of the fiber material are aggravated where the material has a high sugar content and where there is a higher than normal dirt or contamination contained in the fiber.
Another undesirable condition, in this machinery is the inherent build up of static electricity due to friction which causes further tendency of the fibers to stick together to resist separation of foreign matter, to resist the desired actions of the processing equipment resulting in increased fiber breakage which reduces the quality of the yarns. Because of these inherent conditions and problems with the fiber processing equipment, there is ultimately an end loss of spinnable fibers and a reduction in yarn strength due to the higher percentage of short fibers.
An inherent result from excessive friction in equipment of this type is that the wear of the equipment is increased resulting in the frequent necessity for replacement of parts and also resulting in overall reduced life.
A principal object of this invention therefore is to provide apparatus for the treating of fibers in a textile mill which, improves the subsequent processing of the fibers through the various equipment of the mill by improving the conditions which result in the above outlined disadvantages.
Another principal object is to provide apparatus which may be used in conjunction with the conventional mill equipment for treating the fibers to eliminate or improve on these problems.
A further object of this invention is to provide spray apparatus for applying a fine mist spray of a selected solution to the surface of the fibrous material at an early stage in mill processing, so that the subsequent processing operations may be carried out in an improved and efficient manner.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a system whereby the application of a spray solution to the material is automatically controlled by bale opening equipment which distributes the incoming fiber material onto a conveyor for the spray treatment and for delivery to subsequent processing equipment.
Apparatus for the treatment of fibrous material includes a powered conveyor; powered apparatus for distributing the fibrous material uniformly onto the conveyor; spray apparatus including at least one nozzle for spraying a finely diffused liquid on the fibrous material carried on such conveyor, said spray apparatus being disposed adjacent to the conveyor at a point spaced from said powered distributing apparatus; and control means responsive to the operation of the distributing or conveying apparatus for effecting the operation of the spray apparatus.
A principal feature of the apparatus of the invention is that the fibrous material is treated with a treatment composition, at a stage in its processing prior to handling by various stages of equipment, which better conditions the fibers for the subsequent processing by the equipment and has the side effect of being deposited on the equipment to further reduce problems which inherently result from the processing. The treatment compound is added to the material in such quantities as to provide a synthetic shield or coating on the fibers to preserve the inherent quality of the fibers which is often dissipated through the friction generated as the fibers are carried through and acted on by the processing equipment. The treatment composition provides lubricity of the fibers and functions to greatly minimize the build up of static electricity which is generated by the movement of the fibers through the processing equipment. The treatment composition is of a nature that a portion will be deposited from the fibrous material to the parts of the equipment which act on the fibers, thereby coating such parts to further minimize the friction between the fibers and equipment parts and to inherently then reduce the wear of such equipment parts.